


117. caring

by fall_into_life



Series: Beacon University [37]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Illness, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-08 22:50:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18904276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fall_into_life/pseuds/fall_into_life
Summary: Blake gets sick.





	117. caring

Blake surfaces slowly, groggily. She knows she's in her bed, and that it's late. Everything else is foggy.

"Ah. You're awake."

Cool fingers touch her forehead, and Blake turns into it. She's burning up and didn't realize it until this second. A whine slips out between her teeth.

There's a sharp inhale from above her, but the hand doesn't pull away. Blake pushes into the relief of coolness, greedily soaking it up.

"Ruby--" It must be Weiss with her, says a distant part of Blake's mind, "--do you have anything for fever? I think she's awake enough to take something."

If there's more to the conversation, Blake loses the thread of it. She knows someone else comes in the room, but she knows it's someone familiar, so she doesn't think about it. The cool hand stays where it is, and that's the important part.

"Blake. Blake." That's Ruby, and Blake doesn't want to move, but she forces one eyelid open. "C'mon, you gotta sit up so you can take the meds."

Careful hands help her sit up, and Blake accepts the foul-smelling spoon. It tastes just as bad as it smells, but she knows it'll help. Eventually.

They let her lay back down, and she reaches out blindly until Weiss carefully sets her hand in Blake's. She falls asleep with cool fingers on her brow.

[*]

It's another full day before Blake feels confident she can make it out to the kitchen without assistance. She finds Weiss there, drinking coffee Blake knows she didn't find in Blake's home, making notes in a textbook full of diagrams that makes Blake's head hurt just to think about.

"If you had told me, two years ago, that a Schnee would be by my bedside when I was ill, I would have said some unflattering things about your intelligence," Blake says wryly, pouring herself a glass of water and sitting down. It took more effort than she liked to sit down, and she feels like she went a couple rounds with Winter trying to make a point.

Weiss hums acknowledgement, eyeing Blake. She looks as though she's going to say something about Blake being out of bed, but only asks, "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Blake admits. "And... thank you. You didn't--"

"If the next words out of your mouth," Weiss cuts in, bending her head to her textbook again, "are about how I did not have to help care for you, I suggest you save them. My immune system still has not adjusted to the horrific Valean climate, and I will likely catch whatever it is you have." She sniffs. "I am a terrible patient. You will pay me back threefold just by sitting with me while I recover."

A few months ago, Blake would have believed the dismissive tone. Now, she knows better. Weiss could have let Ruby sit with her, could have disengaged entirely. She didn't. She stayed with Blake, and offered what comfort she could. That means far more than her need to pretend it was nothing.

"I appreciate it," Blake says, pretending she doesn't catch the way Weiss' mouth curls upwards at the edges.

(Weiss does catch what Blake had, and she is a terrible patient. Somehow, Blake doesn't mind all that much.)

**Author's Note:**

> More cleaning out my drafts. Three more to go until they're all published.


End file.
